Following the White Rabbit
With my major sightseeing done, I let my proverbial hair down for the weekend (I miss my long hair 😢). First stop on Friday was the White Rabbit with it’s incredible, albeit pricey, cocktails.
The White Rabbit
After that I wandered into a drag show to see a great rendition of Zombie—very popular song over here. Hon the Cranberries! I’ve heard a fair bit Westlife, Boyzone and the Cranberries—the holy trinity of 90s/00s Irish music.
She did Dolores proud
From there, it was over to the Si Lom night market, where I had great craic haggling with the merchants (will have a further blog on the markets!), before heading home.
Opportunities Missed
I was looking at things to do for the weekend and saw Thailand were playing at home against Malaysia in the ASEAN Cup on Saturday evening. Tickets were less than a tenner so I figured why not?
Over the course of the day I heard tell of Wonderfruit—a festival down in Pattaya which still had Sunday tickets for sale. Chatting about it with some Redditors and was going to share a lift down to that in the morning.
In the end I attended neither the game nor the festival—just too wrecked! The jetlag, late nights, weather and running (maybe) caught up with me. At the time it felt like a big opportunity missed, but at the same time, everything over here is a novel and fun opportunity so I don’t want to be mulling over it too much, and sure there’s always next year! I’m mostly just writing this to comfort myself. #fomo
I ended up watching the game on the TV in my wee dorm bed
Opportunities Grabbed
As it happens I awoke Sunday—having given the festival a miss—to a message from one of the lads from home who was over, so we arranged to meet up! We were both staying close to the White Rabbit so went along there for a few before heading to the Wat Arun light show. This was the final night of a month of fireworks, light shows, and drone displays, so it was great to give it a gawk.
Alas, my bike driver got a bit lost on the way and it was over by the time I got there. I thought the massive Buddha in the sky would have been a good destination marker, but he took one shortcut too many I think. This was yet another example of the scale of Bangkok—on Google Maps it looked like we were on the same side of town as Wat Arun yet we were on the bikes for about half an hour! That’s like travelling from Sligo Town to Tubbercurry, and just as treacherous.
Chinatown by night
Glad to have checked out Wat Arun all the same—one of the main Wats in Bangkok as far as I can tell.
Wat Arun light show
The previous night—having given the Thailand game a miss—I got chatting to a lad who said O’Sheas would be a good spot to watch the Scottish League Cup final. So we headed up there and they weren’t wrong! Really cool setup showing the game up on the roof and a great crowd, as is to be expected with Celtic supporters.
In both 2023 and 2024 I got to see Celtic beat Rangers in the League Cup final abroad (Toronto and Bangkok). Hopefully repeat that again in 2025 🙏
Mon the Bhoys!
Benchakitti Park Buzz
Staying back at Nana so I decided to check out Benchakitti Park. While it’s not as lively as Lumphini, it is just as lovely and a great place for a run.
Pretty sure I saw this fella in the pond back home
On my last evening I got out for a sunset run and managed to get up early enough for a sunrise run in the morning. I had to give it the GoPro TimeWarp treatment and I tried something different for this—give it a look below. I’m delighted with how it turned out and it’s nice to have a proper 80s tune rather than the free library guff.
And That’s a Wrap
I could easily have spent a month in Bangkok (with the benefit of hindsight—and how I’m only writing this a month in the future—I’m glad I ventured further afield!) as there is so much to do and I felt I got into a good routine. The parks in particular were a revelation and a highlight for me.
I’m sorry, what!??
So while my time here has been brilliant, it’s time to say Goodbye Bangkok (for now) 👋
A new adventure awaits!
DavAI SummAIriser
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